Date of Rebirth
by Griffx52
Summary: I've finally decided to re-edit this story. (One More Reboot, I keep saying). Anyways... After Hatsune Miku mysteriously goes missing, a young kid who's friendship with her goes back about two years, tries to find out what happened. And, gets a little more than he bargained for. Ending up at Kadic Academy, he begins his search with some new friends. And some old faces.
1. Peace and Quiet- Sort of

"You know," the girl next to me started conversation, after about three minutes of silence. "I never really thought about it." I turned to her, "Thought about what?" She stared at the glass ceiling of the mall we were under. "About where I am right now. How I got here. What I've been doing. Those sorta things."

"Well, yeah, I'd probably be doing the same thing if I miraculously got out to France with one of my friends, too. By the way, how DID your parents manage to agree to that?"

She looked at me, finally, "They would be going on a business trip, anyways. And since they don't really care what I do at this point…"

"You're 16, though, shouldn't they be looking after you, Miku?"

"They've got enough to deal with."

How I ended up friends with this girl is a mystery to me. Her name is Hatsune Miku. She's thin, has abnormally colored hair, and has a family life that seems so dysfunctional that I don't know where to even begin asking her questions. I've known her for only two years, but, we're good enough friends that we hang out.

Actually, no, she's always hanging out with my uncle and I. My uncle doesn't seem to mind, though. Maybe it's because he went through the same thing… I dunno. Uncle David is a closed book, too. He's always doing something in his office. Usually stuff he won't tell me about, either.

"Well," she sighed, "I like hanging out with you, Griff."

"Heh," I chuckled, "I don't see a problem with hanging out with you, either."

After that conversation died down, I sat next to her and tried to think of ways to bring up another conversation. But, in the end, I think we'd both agree that silence was the best option.

It was peaceful. Sounds of people shopping were filling the air. The mall's music player was drowned out by their voices. The water fountain in front of me, splashed around, and added a calming vibe to the air.

It was one of those situations where nothing could ruin the peace that I felt.

… Nothing, except, for what was about to happen next.

The brief peace and silence was cut off by an object hitting against glass.

"Everyone get on the ground! Now!" A man's voice exclaimed over the screaming crowds. "We don't wanna harm anyone. Stay on the ground unless you want to feel metal between your teeth!"

His voice was loud, and booming, and fear struck me to where I felt like I was to stay here and lie down, or run.

Miku decided to go with the latter, and grabbed my hand.

"Come on," she said, "we need to get out of here before they get to us!"

We ran to door marked "Mall Employees Only" and found ourselves in the halls of the mall. Holding my hand, Miku led me through each hall she thought was the right way out.

"This place is a fucking maze," I whispered, "How do you know where you're going?"  
>She looked at me, "I don't."<p>

"I should call David, he should know I'm okay-" She cut me off, "Do it after we get out, okay?"

I didn't talk anymore. Someone would have been in here looking for anyone trying to run away. I was scared. I've never felt this kinda fear before. I don't think my heart could take it.

Just ahead I saw the elevator that would take us to the parking lot. Maybe there were police up there that would take us to safety. _Good, _I thought to myself, _maybe we WILL get out of this alive._

Miku hit the button to call the elevator. I stood there, waiting for what felt like an eternity.

The elevator rang, and just as I thought safety was here, two men with ski masks stood there, holding assault rifles. They were aimed at both of us.

"I'd suggest you get down, or I think you're going to have a shitty time with the holes in your chest."

The thug scared the life out of me, and I did what he said. "Alright, let's tie them down, knock them out, and take them back."

One of them held me down, tied my hands behind my back, and put a syringe in my neck. Before I knew it… I was out cold. I lost consciousness instantly.

When I woke back up, I found myself surrounded by EMT's, a few police officers, and a few SWAT units.

"Hey," an officer came up to me, "You alright? I wanted to see if you could answer some questions."

I cleared my throat, "Yeah, I can do that… But can I ask you a question? Did anyone else make it out of there?"

The officer looked at me and said, "Well, only a few, the rest were taken in a van and were driven off. The tough part about this is we're trying to figure out where it went."

The officer started asking me various questions; some were about the robbers, some were about where I was. When he asked me if I was with anyone, I told him about Miku, and what she looked like. I asked him if she was rescued.

"I'll ask, they might be questioning her, too."

He radioed in her description, and waiting for a reply.

"That's a negative," the radio call replied, "She may have been taken by them. We'll keep searching."

After they finished questioning me, they called David up to tell him that I needed to be picked up.

The officer got me some water, and I sat there looking at this crime scene. They had a few of the robbers arrested. All of them were unmasked and being put into a big van. The van had a name on it, so, maybe it was another security team that came here.

"Duodecim…" I read it to myself, "Who are they…?" It wasn't important, of course, but, I was a little curious. Maybe they were the one's that saved me. I don't know, really.

Eventually, David drove up to the scene, and went up to the officer, telling him that he was going to pick me up. The officer obliged, and released me.

"They didn't find Miku," I said, "I wonder if she's okay…"

David reassured me, "Don't worry, I think she's fine. We both know she can handle herself. And for all we know, she could have escaped."

"I know, but, she was tied down like I was, so, you might be wrong."

"Yeah, I know, Griff. It's okay. It's been a pretty rough day, I bet."

We got back into the car, David started it up.

Once again, a "Duodecim" vehicle drove by. I decided to ask David if he knew anything about them.

"Duodecim?" He paused, "Yeah, I've heard of them. They're private security. Mostly like

any other, but, they've been getting big rather recently. No one really knows much about them. They carry big guns and take down bad guys, I guess that's all they want you to know."

The drive home was silent. What else can you say after a situation like that? I don't know… Miku went missing, and I guess… I gotta wait until they find.

I sighed, trying to be hopeful she did manage to get away. Because I guess that's all I really had- Hope.


	2. Season 1, Episode 1: Welcome to Kadic

A week went by. Nothing. Not even a text message. I didn't panic anymore. I wasn't scared. I just faced facts. _She was taken, _I told myself, _and you can't beat yourself up over it._

But it's my fault. I know it is. Had I been a bit tougher and was willing to fight back, rather than submit myself to be a hostage, maybe we'd have both gotten out of there. I don't even remember what happened… Aside from being tied down and struck with an injection in my neck, but, aside from that… Nothing. That stuff acted fast.

Miku was taken because I can't fight. Because I can't use my fists to fight back. Because I can't hurt people.

That's my fault. I wish it wasn't. But it is. And there's no turning away from that fact. I messed up, and there was another way to do this. But, of course, I can't reverse time, and I can't fix this situation. Sadly, because all I want to do now is fix this, and, maybe, just maybe, I could have saved Miku.

… Of course I couldn't have. Because it goes back to the fact that I can't fight. I'm not strong in any way. So, how could I have taken that burglar out? He had a gun, too. An assault rifle, and I'm pretty sure he was going to fill me with bullets. He seemed crazy enough to do it…

I sat on my bed, thinking about tackling the new day. Being scared as I was, I didn't want to go outside. I wanted to lie back down. I didn't want to end up in the same situation as before. And maybe not come out as lucky as the last time.

As I sat there, thinking about how bad this fictional situation would get, David walked in with some news.

"Hey," he said, "How ya hangin'?" I just kinda nodded at his question. "So-so, huh?

That's okay, I mean, with what happened last week and all, you seem to be doing alright."

He sat next to me to tell me something.

"So… I don't think it's very safe here. After what had happened, I'm thinking we should move you to a better place. I did some searching, and I found a school for somewhere in France. It's called 'Kadic Academy'. It's a boarding school, so, I think you'll be in a bit of a safer environment.

"Wait? Kadic? Where the hell is that?"

"France, believe it or not."

"But why would you want to stay in France? Isn't New York just fine?"

"No, Griff. I think you have to understand that the United States is going down the crapper. So, I think we need to move. Don't worry. You'll be fine with Kadic. They have great security, and, you have a dorm room."

We talked for what seemed like two hours. He convinced me, eventually, that this was the best way to go about things. Maybe I WOULD be safer with this.

We weren't going to be going on the plane tomorrow to New York. No, we'd be getting in the car in the exact opposite direction. David would be heading back to New York to get our stuff, and finding a place.

… Jesus Christ, David, way to do everything last minute.

I woke up the next morning, and, well, David had already packed my stuff up from the night before.

"I cleaned everything for you last night. These clothes will last you about a week, I've also got your school supplies paid for, and you're registered for classes. Class won't be for another few days, though, so, you'll be able to figure the place out within the few days you have free."

A boarding school, huh? Delightful, I guess. But if it means I can stay somewhere that isn't dangerous, that's good for David. I guess that's him being a guardian over me. That, or, he's trying to do something stupid crazy and doesn't want me involved in it. I can never tell with him, though. He's such a strange guy, doing things that I don't know about. Practically not a day goes by when he isn't working on something important that he doesn't want me to know about.

And while I sat in the car as he drove to my future boarding school. I thought about this. This entire situation happened because of what happened at the mall last week. Just because of that, Miku disappeared, and now, I'm moving to a new school in another country. For whatever reason, David, thinks everything is completely normal. Or, maybe he doesn't, and he's trying to fix it.

I don't care anymore, though, because all I want to do is get to the bottom of this. _What happened to her, _I question, _where is she right now_?

I keep pushing questions like these, and have been, for the past week now. Is this how I'm coping with it? Asking things? There's no way I'll find anything out unless I can provide answers…

But, what power do I have? What could I do? She was taken by a group of guys who had guns! That's not my fault!

This is a constant loop. A circle, because it's always going to end right back at that one conclusion. _I have no power_. _There's no way I could do anything in that situation except surrender. That's what FEAR is._

I try and be hopeful. I try and figure out how to distract myself from all of this. I want everything to be back to frickin' normal. How would that work? With Miku gone, it just doesn't feel right…

But, neither is going to a new school. That doesn't feel right at all. I guess that's going to need some getting used to.

David drove up to the parking lot, and handed me an envelope.

"Take that to the principal, I've already registered you, they just need that information. There's a map of the school I'm sending you to your phone right now, look at that as a reference if you get lost. It's a big school, so, I don't think anyone expects you to know it like the back of your hand instantly. Anyways, I do need to get going, I have a flight to catch in the next two hours. I'll see you soon, alright?"

I didn't say anything. I just nodded, and he rolled up the window and drove away.

… So this is Kadic Academy? Huh, I'd imagine it being bigger. I'm lying. This place is huge. Almost like a college campus kinda huge.

I pull out my phone, and look at the message David sent me. It was an image file containing the map in it. Just like he said it would be. I save the picture and look at it.

"Okay…" I say to myself browsing around the map, "so, that's the dorms, that's the lunch area… Where's the principal's office? Gotta be around here somewhere." I look over and see it's across the campus. "Well, alright. Let's get going."

I grab my stuff and head over. It's time to go do whatever I'm supposed to do. The school is pretty nice looking. I guess they care about this place if they can keep such a big place so nice looking. I guess I'll enjoy it here once I'm used to it, I think. There's probably a lot to this place I don't even know.

So, about fifteen minutes later, I get to the office of Principal… Delmas. I don't need to talk to him, but, I do need to get my files to him. Luckily, his secretary was here to take my information, but, then I was told that the principal wanted to talk with me because David told him about my recent… Incident. I guess it's for reassurance that nothing could go wrong.

I sit down and idly wait for the principal to come out. I can hear a conversation in that room happening. It's unintelligible, and it probably just has to do with funding. Or something unimportant. Or maybe it has to do everything with me.

The principal comes out, "Griff Darhen?" He says. I get out of my seat, "Yeah, that's me."

"I'd like to welcome you to our academy. I'm Principal Delmas. And, as you are aware, I run this academy." I shook his hand. "But, I also was told about your recent run-in with a criminal syndicate. I want to assure we are a secure school, and you have nothing to worry about. We've had no accidents so far at this school, and, well, we're trying to keep a clean record here. From what I've heard, you're a good student who doesn't get into trouble. I can trust you won't smear your record here."

I nodded in agreement. "Good, right now, I'm going to have Jim here take you to your dorm. You already have a roommate here. He's already moved in, too. A model student like him will show you around the campus, and, I'm sure, will answer any questions you have."

Jim, who was hilariously the gym teacher here, walked up, "Come on, I'll show you your new room." I grabbed my stuff and followed behind him.

We walked across the school campus as he led me to the place I'd be staying for the next few months.

"This door, you'll be staying with Belpois."

I opened the door to my new dorm. Sitting on the bed was a suitcase, and a student who was taking things out of it.

"Belpois, this is your new roommate, Griff. You heard about him, right?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, looking at me, "Why don't I introduce myself? I'm Jeremie." He shook my hand.

"Griff. Griff Darhen."

"Welcome to Kadic. The place is quite a beauty. Anyways, why don't we get you unpacked and I can show you around for a little bit before dinnertime?"  
>"I'd like that." I replied, placing my bag on my new bed.<p>

"By the way," Jeremie asked, "I heard you were in that Mall assault. What was up with that?"

"I hadn't the faintest idea. I just remember waking up with EMT's and police around me. Why? Did you watch the news when it happened?"

"Everyone did, they had us all go to our dorms and wait until it was over. Even though that mall is a two hour drive away, they don't like taking chances."

"This place is pretty secure then, huh?"

We both chuckled. "That's pretty secure in my book."

After we both got our stuff unpacked, Jeremie showed me around the school.

"Right there's the cafeteria, over there's the science building, and right in front of us is

the girl's dorm."

"Anything else?"

"Library is over there," he pointed behind me, "we go there for study period. Usually it's

about an hour."

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"I have a few other friends who left during summer break. They'll be back on the first day of school. I'll introduce you to them. Anyways, I think dinner is about to be happening, so, why not get going?"

I nodded, "If anything, food sounds like the best thing right now."

"Yeah, hey, just one question for you, though, Griff."

"Yeah?"  
>"How did it feel being held at gunpoint?"<p>

"Scary, why do you ask?"

"You're not the first to have that happen to them."

Jeremie walked ahead. What did that mean? Why did he say that? Was he also there? I dunno. Maybe he's just messing with me. I barely know him.

This school is pretty secure. So, it can't be all that bad. Except, I was going to learn it'd be the exact opposite of what I bargained for. The VERY opposite.


	3. Season 1, Episode 2: Information

A few days have gone by. Those were days to relax. However, now, today starts the first day of school. And, as Jeremie tells me, I'll get to meet some of his "friends". Considering how weird Jeremie is, though, they'll probably be oddballs, too. That's fine with me, I was friends with the really weird kids back in my old high school.

It's not like hanging out with the weird kids is going to be relatively bad, anyways, it's just that, well, I dunno what they're going to be like. Considering Jeremie, though, they'll probably be like him. Nerds, I guess. Maybe one or two of them likes video games. Maybe. He said there's about five of them, but he never told me their names.

He said once lunch started to meet at the seat we ate at the last few times. I agreed to do so, and we went our separate ways.

Oh, yeah, David gave me my school supplies and some other stuff from when he got back from New York. It took less time than I thought. He was probably working pretty quickly to get everything and move us out. But I still gotta wonder; why such a hurry to move out of state? You don't just find a school for your kid and leave them there while you do other stuff… Do you? I don't even know. I keep asking these questions to myself as if they're going to get answered soon. Of course, they won't be, because no one can answer them.

Later in the day, everything rolled on to be as normal as any other school day. Introductions were made, students were talking to each other. Lectures were put out. People were bored. Seems like something I'm already used to. English class isn't even that bad of a class. I actually like it.

Once class was over, break happened, but, there was no sign of Jeremie. I have to wonder what he was doing. Probably trying to find his friends. And they might all be looking for each other in one big loop. I didn't care. I'd meet them at lunch. All I did was buy a snack at the vending machine, and head to my next class.

Within the next two hours, lunch was about to start, guess it's time to meet Jeremie's crew. I still wonder who they even were, though. I grabbed my lunch and looked around for Jeremie. He must have caught sight of me first, because I saw hands waving to me from my peripheral vision.

I walked over to the table to find a variety of new people. All seeming like they were out of the ordinary. But, they also seemed like they knew each other really well. Kind of an… Aura of happiness and reunion was circling them.

There were four new people, a Japanese girl with an all black attire, a blond kid with really long hair, wearing purple, a girl with pink hair, wearing a reddish jacket, and a brown haired kid in army green colors. This WAS a strange bunch.

Jeremie introduced me, "This is Griff, he's my new roommate, and since he's new here, I thought it'd be cool to show him around. He comes from New York."

Odd, the kid in purple, got up to shake my hand, "Odd Della Robbia, nice to meet you."

"Griff, Griff Darhen." I replied, "And who are you?" I asked the pink haired girl, "I'm Aelita. Aelita Schaeffer."

"I'm Yumi Ishiyama." The Japanese girl in black introduced herself. Then the kid in army green followed with, "Ulrich. Ulrich Stern."

So, these were the friends of Jeremie. I had to admit, I liked them from the start. They're all kinda their own people, and they have something about them that make them a little different from the rest of the students here. What makes them so special, though, I have to wonder.

Sitting with them, and being able to talk to them, I felt a special connection. I felt like we would be really good friends.

As the day dragged on, things came to an end. Class was over, and so, I decided to head back to my dorm.

Already there was Jeremie, sitting at his computer, and doing work.

"Oh, hey," I said to him, "busy?"  
>"Not really," his reply came back, "Just finishing up work. Anything new with you?"<p>

I lay down on my bed, and looked at the ceiling. "Eh, nothing unusual...Just doing the do."

"Same. So, I'm glad you got to meet the crew."

"Yeah, they're great. I can see why you're friends with them."

"Well, they've been with me since Freshmen year. We've done a lot together."

"Oh, neat."

As I lay there, I grabbed a tennis ball, and nervously threw it in the air and caught it. I was starting to think about last week again. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. I decided to ask Jeremie a question.

"Hey," I turned to him, "can I ask you something?"

"Yeah? What?"

"You know what 'Duodecim' is? I remember seeing them after the incident, but, I don't quite know what they are."

Jeremie started tapping his keyboard furiously, and then told me this: "They're a security company. They manufacture weapons, vehicles, security systems. Basic stuff for any security place, really."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, they've been talking about building robots. That's been for a while, though. Why do you want to know about them so badly?"

"I dunno, I just remembered them being the reason I'm alive from the attack at the mall. I was curious about them."

"Thing is," Jeremie said, "They seem pretty closed about everything. They mention they're building 'security droids', but that's it. Nothing else really seems to be explained. They must be pretty tight-lipped about it."

"Well, what makes you say that? I mean, they can't tell everyone about it."

"Yeah, I know that, but, doesn't that seem a little suspicious?"

It kind of did seem a little weird to me.

"Listen, I'm going to do a little research on this. I'm intrigued now."

Oh boy, here we go.

With the passing days, I'd think about the different things that had happened. The normal boring stuff. Definitely wasn't anything really interesting happening there. Class was simple, boring, and, without a doubt, the place where my cares weren't really "in".

One night, though, in class, I was awakened by a pair of hands grabbing at me.

"Griff," the familiar voice of Jeremie whispered, "I need you awake right now. Because I just found something. And it's something I think you might wanna see."

"W… What?" I say in reply, yawning, "What is it…?"

"Well, look for yourself."

I got out of bed, and looked at his computer.

"Uh, so… What is this?" I pondered over the text and binary that spread over the screen.

"What ISN'T it?" Jeremie replied, "It's an entire data structure. Thanks to my expert computer skills, it looks like I was able to get into the Duodecim servers."

"... And, what is that getting us?"

"Well, it'll get us into what kinda information they have, if you would give me a moment…" He messed around on his keyboard, "I think you'll find this particularly interesting."

He zoomed in on something. An image of a large cylinder.

"This is something they've kept under wraps for a while." He told me.

"So… A giant soda can is something they keep classified isn't something I'm interested in."

"You will be once I show you something else."

Jeremie told me that he couldn't show me something right now, but, that he would show me tonight, and that he needed to tell the others first.

What, I wonder, is it he needs to tell them?

I sat in class, doing the everyday do, and wondered what Jeremie had mentioned last night about that giant cylindrical device. I felt like I shouldn't have called it a "giant soda can" but, I have no idea what I was looking at. Maybe it was a computer or something. Maybe it held a bunch of hard drives. Who knows, but, he'll talk to all of us later.

"Griff, are you paying attention?" My teacher asked me, "Y-Yes!" I perked my head up.

The teacher looked at me suspiciously, "Okay… Then you better be prepared for the test next Thursday."

Ugh, exams. What a load of crap.

Everything else was plain and boring, but dinner was a different story.

"So…" Jeremie started, "After dinner, I need all of you to come with me. There's something we need to talk about."

"What about?" Odd questioned.

"Because, Odd," Jeremie explained, "I found something out, thanks to Griff here, that I think we might need to go investigate on-"

"Wait," Yumi joined in, "You don't mean-?"

Jeremie nodded, "It looks like it hasn't been 'shut off' like we thought it was."

"Waitwaitwaitwait…" I interrupted, "Can I get an explanation for ANY of this?"

"Oh, sorry," Jeremie said, "I think we'd have to show you ourselves. I don't think you'd believe us."

"What makes you say that?"

"Trust me."

A little while later, we were outside of the cafeteria, and going to head to wherever Jeremie wanted us to go.

"Follow behind me," Odd said, "They'll be taking another route. Oh, and, don't get spotted by Jim. He'll royally mess this up if he finds us."

I walked behind Odd, who would duck behind walls, and maneuver around from location to location, and would look for a way to get to the meeting point.

"Are you trying to be a spy? Come on, let's just get over there." I told him, annoyed.

"Nah, just follow my lead."

I surrendered. At this rate, though, we'd be there at around… 3 AM.

However, we met them in a dark tree lined area.

"Well, here we are." Jeremie said.

"What, here?"I asked, "this isn't anything extraordinary-"

Odd opened a sewer cap, which I didn't even know was there.

"After you, Einstein."

I was surprised, "wait, you're not actually thinking of going down there, are you?"

"And what do you suggest we do? Go find another way? Nah, this is a much better route."

The things I do to sate my curiosity, I swear…

Crawling through the sewer, (which smelled as bad as you'd think) I couldn't help but wonder how I got dragged into this goddamn mess. Earlier today, we were talking about Shakespeare, and now I'm smelling feces from the entire city in one big area. How do these things happen?

I couldn't leave, though, because I wanted to know what they were going to show me. Jeremie was definitely interested in Duodecim, and with that… thing he showed me, I had to wonder what that was, exactly. I try and think about it in my head.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me, "Hey, does Yumi and Aelita know about this?"

Ulrich replied, "No, they know. We told them to meet us there."

"And where are we going?" I questioned.

"A factory. An old abandoned factory."

Oh lord. This better not be a joke. But, I'll humor them and join in on their game. Sure, why not? And I could use the exercise anyways.

We arrived at a ladder, and Jeremie pointed up, "Yeah, here it is. Well, ladies first," he told Odd.

"Oh, come on," he said, "You're still not making jokes about that whole Yumi thing, are you?"

"Well," Ulrich joined in, "You DO have the most experience out of any of us."

They all chuckled, except for Odd, who had a scowl, as they climbed up the ladder. Once I poked my head from the sewer, I could see it in plain view.

"Whoa," I said, surprised, "you WEREN'T kidding."

"I wasn't trying to."

I pulled myself out of the sewer, and followed suit. Gazing at the old factory, I wondered what awaited me inside.

Perhaps I'd know soon enough.

Yumi was inside already, standing right by a freight elevator. Along with Aelita.

"Well, took you long enough." Yumi said.

"Hello, boys," Aelita said, smiling.

"Uh, hey." I said, who knew these were people I just met earlier this week.

"Well, this is going to be a quite a day. I never thought we'd be turning this old thing on again…" Odd said.

"Is that elevator safe?" I asked. It looked kinda old and rusted.

"It is. Don't worry," Jeremie assured me, "this place might not look it on the outside, but on the inside, it's one of the safest places to be during any disaster."

Well, that's a surprise. This is the LAST place I'd like to be in that event. Maybe it'll come in handy in the future…

"Alright, let's do this, guys," Jeremie said, "Ready to get back to work?"

Odd and Ulrich looked at each other, then back at Jeremie. "You didn't really tell us why we're coming back here?"

Jeremie just looked back behind him and said "Because I don't think we're the only one's who know about this…"

"Wait," Odd said, stepping into the freight elevator, "There's people in there already?"

"No," Jeremie said, "But I think someone wants to find the factory, and I wanna make sure they don't open this can of worms."

As the elevator shut, I stood in there pondering what might be down there… I was about to find out, though, as of now, it's too late to walk away.

The elevator opened. What I was about to see would change everything. Forever.


End file.
